Lucas Hart
"I want you to know that I'm only protecting this place because I just bet on the Colonel and he just won." — Lucas Hart readying the defense of Brightwall to the Crawler attack. Appearance Lucas Hart is a tall, lithe man, with well-groomed black hair and sharp green eyes. His features are angular, filled with guile. He fancies himself a sort of dashing folk hero type, and tends to wear formalwear fitted to fighting, and a mask to 'hide his identity' which tends to be an excercise in futility, as he enjoys shouting that he is Lucas Hart with some title, commonly something overly grandiose, his favorite being "the Bird of Prey." He carries three guns on him at all times, two rifles on his back and a pistol. Also commonly slung across his back is a cutlass, or some other thin, easy to use blade, in case all goes wrong. History Lucas Hart was born in Bloodstone, to a prostitute who attempted for three years of his life to take care of him, but when the choice came for only one of them to eat, the woman left him on a bar counter and took her food. Hart was then raised by a revolving cast of brutal bandits, gangs of deliquents, drunkards, and other regulars of the bar. When Hart reached 9 years of age he was kicked out of the bar for having a rifle backfire into the face of one of Reaver's old gang, which many believed would be the end of the bar. Reaver, by this point, had cut off relations with any old cohorts, and only came to Bloodstone to shoot his old friend, and make sure he would not talk and ruin his reputation. Hart, at this point, had to quickly learn the art of pickpocketing and later, breaking and entering. Soon he advanced into muggings, using a rifle he'd stolen from the Bloodstone Blacksmith. It was quite fast that Hart developed astounding skill with the rifle, and quickly found himself siding more commonly with the wronged townspeople, rather than the more profitable gangs. His new survival strategy had evolved into killing the thugs and gangs, and simply taking the money they had already stolen. Hart's burgeoning sense of morality was fast earning him a name as a friend to Bloodstones poor. This caught the eye of Bloodstones rising crime lord, Richard "Ratman" Ratman, a crime lord infamous for his brutality and poor skill at nickname choice. Through a sting set up with a mugging, and a beautiful girl, Hart was captured, and dumped into the Bloodstone harbor, tied up with a bag of grain attached for him to sink. Hart, however, had seen this coming, and as the walk to the dock commenced, he had used his innate flexibility to chew a hole through the bag of grain, which dumped itself out unnoticably onto the docks (the fact that Ratman's colleauges were notoriously idiotic didn't hurt the situation) and Hart was able to quietly float away until he reached a small fishing boat. Hart was quite lucky to find that the captain of this boat was a man he had saved before, and who agreed to ferry him to Bowerstone. The transfer was helpful, but it wasn't long before the criminal underground of the capital city began to track Hart, and Hart this time found himself tied up in Silverpine woods. Hart waited for the Balverines to feast on him, but they didn't come. It took hours but Hart ground the chains binding him down to nothing with a rock nad fled to a cabin nearby. He realized that the Balverines would not attack him because of a constantly burning Silver Nitrite torch. He stepped into the cabin and met with a corpse. It was a long dead man. Hart decided to make the cabin his own. After three years of reclusivity in Silverpine woods, a 26 year old Hart discovered a dying soldier in the woods, and tried to take him to a cabin, but he seemed in more pain the closer he got. Hart took him to the deeper woods, and aided the man until he was healthy again, where Hart discovered that the man he had rescued was a White Balverine, but as he changed, he spoke to Hart, seeming shocked that he was not bestial. Hart and the man spoke, and both simply decided to write it off as an act of god, not something to be prodded. The man revealed his name to be Acre Faust. When Faust was forced to leave Silverpine because of the common Silver Nitrite lamps, Hart accompanied him, stating that "Trees get boring after a while." The two began a trek across the country of Albion until arriving at the Mistpeak mountains where they found themselves trapped while exploring a cave out of curiosity. They made their way through, Hart's skill with his weapons coming in handy and complimenting the Mace that Faust used. When they escaped the cave they found that the trail of bandit, Hobbe, and wolf corpses they left behind was a testament to their skills as a team, and the two mutually decided that this was a partnership that would last a long time. The two eventually found themselves winding down in Brightwall, enjoying a house. Hart would later meet with a young woman named Elise, a woman with nothing but scorn for criminals like Hart. Hart took this anger and whittled it into an affirmative answer to his question, "Will you marry me?" Hart revealed his true self when Elise was killed outside of the town by a group of local bandits. Hart took Uprising and killed a great deal of the bandits from yards away, and then entered the very hurt camp with his battle rifle, Revolt, and left very dead, or very mortally wounded bodies in his wake. He burned the camp, and watched it fall to the ground, without any joy, or relief on his face. The next three years would have Hart and Faust transferring from wandering the country, and settling into Brightwall, until finally Hart was able to sleep in his house in Brightwall, and not in an inn. Faust and Hart decided that their travelling days were done, and Hart had, for the moment, given up the domestic dream. When the Crawler attacked, it attacked everywhere, and Brightwall was far from unprepared. When the country was warned by the Hero of Brightwall, now the king, it was Hart and Faust that lead up the defense, and who repelled the most of the Crawlers army. Brightwall was one of very few towns across Albion to not only survive the attack, but survive with a great deal of it's people. After the attack Hart made the decision to adopt a child, as he found it difficult, now, to exist alone, as Faust and his wife, Maria, built up a life. Hart adopted a little girl only a few months old, and named her Elise. Hart now lives with his growing daughter in Brightwall, trying to raise her into not only a good rifle shooter, but a good pistol shooter as well. Personality Much of it is self-serving, he freely takes whatever he wants with no regard for ownership, though he mostly reciprocates, allowing a great deal of his things to be taken frmo him without a fight, as long as it's within his veil of reason, a line that he has not been shy about crossing when stealing from others. He still, however, likes to consider himself a champion for the poor, and does not allow injustice against the impoverished to go unpunished. He is especially vindictive towards noble families, but has been known to decimate bandits who prey upon poverty-ridden townsfolk. He has developed a strong bond with Acre Faust, who's steadfast morality seems to have effected Hart in some way or another, as Hart now pays regularly for things he takes and has vowed not to steal, at the very least, from noble families whom Faust considers to be reputable. He defers to Faust in points of decision, allowing him to make life-threatening decisions to the both of them. Hart seems hellbent on keeping the man alive. Many don't understand the nature of their realtionship, but the two are close, Hart even calling him, on one occasion, "The only real reason I'm a hero." Weapons Steel Cutlass — A simple blade Hart stole from a blacksmiths. Uprising — A long-barelled, flintlock rifle that Hart pilfered from a noble family. It was an artifact of this family, a group which fought against the laws of Lord Lucian during the events concerning the Hero of Bowerstone. It boasts an incredibly long range, and Hart's innate talents with the rifle grip exercise this to full capacity, allowing Hart the ability to strike at Targets from almost 700 yards away. Revolt — The second stolen artifact from the rebelling noble family. Revolt is another rifle with a shorter barell and a lack of a stock. It's a 'Battle Rifle' meant for close quarters combat, keeping people at by with trickshots, Hart has become quite good with this. Resolute — The final stolen artifact from the rebelling noble family. Resolute is a pistol that it small and meant to be hidden and brought out suddenly for a surprise attack when captured. Hart has only used it three times, and has misses each time. Hart has no skill with pistols, and fumbles with them whenever he attempts their use. Notable Quotes "Those assassins are a bunch of cutthroats, I'm a hitman, I'm more of a shootthroat." — Hart when propositioned to assassinate a local lord. "I hope you realize that the whole town thinks you may as well be Avo right now." — Hart when talking to Faust after defending the village from a bandit attack, and accidentally changing into his Balverine form. "I won't be a hero unless I have him to back me up. If he's not there, then I'm just a guy with a gun." — Hart, when asked if he can fight without Faust.